James Iyuna

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James Iyuna


Dob:                   1959
Died:                  19/2/2016
Tribe:                 Kunwinjku
Area:                  Western Arnhem Land. NT
Outstation:            Mumeka
Language Bloc:         Bininj kunwok
Language:              Eastern Kunwinjku
Local Group (clan):    Kurulk clan
Social Affiliations:   Duwa moiety, Balang sub

Ngalyod Rainbow Serpent, Dilebang sacred site rainbow serpents, Buluwana submerged ancestor at Ngandarrayo, Mandjabu conical fish trap, Kunmadj dilly bag, Mimih spirits, Assorted Macropods, Ngalkordo- brolga, Wayarra profane spirits.

This artist is one of four brothers living at Mumeka, a remote outstation situated beside the mighty Mann River in the Stone Country which stretches in an almost unbroken line for 300 miles from Kakadu to Maningrida.

James and his three brothers had very little western education because of the difficulty of getting to a school at either Oenpelli or Maningrida, the nearest townships in Arnhem Land. Instead they spent most of their time learning the history and religion of the Kunwinjku tribe as told to them by their uncle, the late famous bark painter Peter Maralwanga.

Their own father did not paint either on rock or on bark, and died when his four sons were quite small. Maralwanga took them to his outstation about 20 miles away and taught them how to paint in his inimitable style, which featured the complex pattern of rarrk or cross hatching for which he was most famous, and included brilliant flashes of white, said to be the fossilised droppings of the Rainbow Serpent. This clay comes from a hidden deposit at a secret and sacred place to which no other artists have access.

All of the brothers, Iyuna, Mawundjal, Njiminjuma and Bandawunga achieved fame as traditional painters of the mythology taught to them by their uncle. Iyuna's work is extremely hard to acquire because of the constant demands of art galleries and private collectors. His paintings hang in major galleries, and are featured in authentic art books.

James was born in 1959. He is married and has two sons. He continues to paint at his isolated outstation, only leaving it to attend mortuary rites and secret and sacred ceremonies, for some of which he is the ceremonial leader.